Ferrari F1 boss forced to calm down 'emotional' Lewis Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari F1 boss forced to calm down 'emotional' Lewis Hamilton

Fred Vasseur knows Lewis Hamilton well, and knows how to manage him

Sam Cook Digital Journalist

Sports Journalist who has been covering motorsport since 2023

Tuesday 16 June 2026 09:57

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Ferrari F1 boss Fred Vasseur says that his role now is to keep Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari grounded after their historic success at the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.

Hamilton claimed his 106th career victory in Barcelona, extending his all-time record, and celebrated on the top of a grand prix podium for the first time in the red of the Ferrari team.

His pace throughout the weekend was magnificent, and after a neatly-timed virtual safety car had helped him gain the lead over the two Mercedes cars, Hamilton's race engineer Carlo Santi could be heard sending him messages of enthusiasm and positivity.

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Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle suggested that this would have come from the team principal Vasseur, who knows what it takes to make Hamilton perform having won the GP2 title as his boss all the way back in 2006.

These confidence-boosting team radio messages clearly helped, as Hamilton romped clear and defeated Mercedes' George Russell by almost 20 seconds.

But while Ferrari celebrated wildly as their driver finally claimed his first grand prix win in Ferrari red, Vasseur noted the importance to stay grounded, with the Frenchman wanting Ferrari to be celebrating more than just one grand prix win at the end of the season.

Ferrari on cloud nine

Vasseur acknowledged the emotions that were swirling around Hamilton and the team after the Barcelona-Catalunya GP, but that they should focus on the bigger picture.

"I’m trying to calm down bad comments, enthusiastic comments," Vasseur told Sky Sports after the race. "It’s not that we were nowhere two weeks ago and we’re world champions today.

"Lewis is a bit emotional. The team is emotional. It’s my job to try and calm everybody down. For sure it’s a huge push in terms of confidence."

Vasseur said Hamilton was emotional on Sunday.

It's easy to see why Ferrari and Hamilton might be starting to get excited. The team's seven-time champion driver looks back to his best, and has quickly followed up a first grand prix podium in Ferrari red with two second-place finishes and a first grand prix victory for the team.

He is now just 41 points behind Kimi Antonelli in the drivers' championship, as Ferrari look for their first drivers' champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.